Pacemaker cells in the heart produce chemical impulses which power the heartbeat. These cells are frequently affected by external stimuli-stress, medication, and physical activity. Some of the things that affect the body chemistry change the chemical impulses thus increasing or decreasing the heartbeat. One of the most popular and often misunderstood external heart stimuli is defibrillation. Read more great facts on
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Defibrillation is the process of administering a jolt of electricity to the heart which depolarizes the heart muscle and enables the natural heart pacemaker to reset and go on beating potentially. Defibrillation is done by devices known as defibrillators which vary in their ability and design. Currently, the familiar movies and TV trope of defibrillator paddles being utilized patients who are flat-lining is outdated. More commonly, defibrillation will happen through the prophylactic nodes, which are attached to the patient's chest and also employed to monitor the heart rate. When a shockable heart rhythm occurs, these nodes deliver shocks. Unlike TV shows, a patient who is shocked does not convulse. Normally, there is only a small amount of muscle contraction in the whole body. Also unlike what we see in TV shows, a flat line is typically an unshockable rhythm. Ventricular fibrillation is a shockable heart rhythm, and it occurs when the ventricles quiver instead of working in a pattern.

Another shockable rhythm called Ventricular tachycardia is a very fast rhythm in which there is a loss of pulse. Specific types of cardiac arrhythmias might not be shockable based on the rhythm type and its severity. Defibrillator devices in hospitals are not fully automatic but are similar to the fully automatic
AEDs.

An AED defibrillator is made to be easy to utilize in an emergency cardiac arrest situation. The portable AED has a text screen which is convenient for chaotic and noisy environments which run concurrently with the voice prompts. The device displays the patient's heart rate, number of shocks delivered, the waveform and the time which has elapsed. The defibrillator has built-in pacemaker pulse detection and automatic synchronization.

Almost half of all the heart attacks take place when the victim is a home. It is now common to find AED defibrillators in the homes of individuals who have heart conditions. They offer a feeling of security to the patient and the loved ones. Family members may easily learn to utilize the defibrillator if there is an emergency.